Italian explorer Christopher Columbus has traditionally been blamed for bringing syphilis-like diseases to the Americas, but a new study found that the disease was widespread thousands of years ago.
The first beginnings of a syphilis epidemic were documented in Europe in the late 15th century, leading historians to believe that it was brought to the Americas when Columbus set foot on the continent.
DNA evidence has now shown that treponematosis, an ancient syphilis-like disease, existed in Brazil for more than 2,000 years before the explorer set out for the New World.
Archaeologists discovered pathogens carrying syphilis-like diseases on the remains of four individuals in Brazil
If left untreated, treponematosis can lead to disfiguring lesions and deformities in the bone, cartilage and skin – all of which can be painful and disabling.
Kerttu Majander, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Basel, said: ‘The fact that the findings represent an endemic type of treponemal diseases, and not sexually transmitted syphilis, still leaves the origin of the sexually transmitted syphilis uncertain.’
The team examined the bones of four people who died thousands of years ago in the coastal region of Santa Catarina in Brazil.
Pathogens found in the remains showed signs of a syphilis-like disease that likely resulted in mouth sores and shin pain.
The study, published in Nature, says the bones were excavated from the archaeological site of Jabuticabeira II and have been studied since 2016.
Researchers screened 37 of 99 sequencing data samples and found that there were between seven and 133 positive hits for diseases arising from the Treponema family.
Italian explorer Christopher Columbus has historically been accused of bringing syphilis-like diseases to the Americas
Verena Schünemann, from the University of Zurich and co-author of the study, said: ‘Although the origins of syphilis still leave room for imagination, at least we now know without any doubt that treponematoses were no strangers to the American inhabitants who lived and lived. died centuries before the continent was explored by Europeans.
Syphilis is just one of four diseases that are part of the treponemal diseases, which also include bejel, yaws and pinta, which cause chronic mouth and skin infections.
Until now, researchers and archaeologists have been unable to find any evidence that these venereal diseases existed before the epidemic in Europe in 1492. This allowed researchers to recalculate when the bacteria emerged, placing it between 780 BC and 450 AD.
The existence of the treponemal diseases shows that the bacteria had probably already spread around the world before anyone traveled to America, Schünemann said. IFLScience.
“Based on these results, we cannot favor either of the two options,” she said, but added that based on their findings “it seems more likely that the bacterial family (was) already widespread worldwide before Columbus came to the Americas feed. ‘
Researchers found that out of 99 samples, 37 contained syphilis-like diseases
The bones were excavated at the Jabuticabeira II archaeological site in the coastal area of Santa Caterina in Brazil.
The researchers emphasized that the infectious disease is endemic and that Bejel nowadays only thrives in areas with a warm, dry climate, such as the Mediterranean and Western Asia, while the yaws disease is mainly found in the humid tropics such as Africa or South Asia. America.
Researchers said in the study that these findings could shed light on “how past populations thrived and dealt with health problems, which may raise concerns such as stigmatization due to disease or rights and legal issues among people living today.”
Researchers said they hope their discovery could lead to the origins of syphilis and ultimately explain the history of all treponemes.
(Left) A map showing the location of the Jabuticabeira II archaeological site. (Right) An evolutionary model showing the likely strains of the disease
Brenda Baker, an anthropologist at Arizona State University who was not involved in the project, told LiveScience: “The recovery of such an ancient treponemal genome suggests that we may soon be able to fill major gaps in our understanding of evolution and dispersal.” . of this pathogen in ancient times as more aDNA (ancient DNA) is recovered from other locations around the world.”